Resumen
Resumen de Los nigromantes
Para quién es
For readers who like ghost stories with real moral weight, Edwardian country houses and London drawing rooms, and quiet suspense that builds scene by scene. It suits anyone curious about spiritualism and the faith that opposed it.
De qué trata este libro
The Necromancers is a novel by Robert Hugh Benson, a Catholic priest and writer who died in 1914. It follows a young man who loses the girl he loves and is drawn toward the spiritualist circles of Edwardian London. Benson wrote it to show, in the form of a story, why a believer should fear the practice of calling the dead.
The book opens in a quiet Herefordshire country house called Stantons, on the day of a funeral. Laurie Baxter, a young convert to Catholicism, stands at the grave of Amy Nugent, a grocer's daughter his mother never wanted him to marry. His adopted sister Maggie Deronnais watches him with a clear and steady eye. You get a sharp portrait of grief, of a gentle mother who will not see trouble, and of a girl who sees more than she says.
What follows is a slow and careful descent. You meet a fashionable hostess, a calm and kindly medium, a brisk old solicitor and a barrister who wants none of it. Each pulls in a different direction. Let us begin with the funeral and the first visitor who unsettles the house.
En este resumen
- 1A funeral and a house of calmFree
- 2A visitor with a strange creed
- 3The medium and the missing hour
- 4The test of the grave
- 5Dreams, dangers and a pencil
- 6Warnings from friends and strangers
- 7A night of wind and rain
- 8Easter Eve at Stantons
- 9What the story is really about
- 10How the story is told
Idea clave 1 de 10
A funeral and a house of calm
The story opens on a September morning at Stantons, an old house of rosewood tables, Tudor panelling and deep country quiet. Mrs. Baxter, a small, devout and gentle widow, sits sewing and fretting about her son. Beside her sits Maggie Deronnais, her adopted daughter, half French and convent educated, with a steady manner and strong, capable hands.
Today Laurie is at the village churchyard, burying Amy Nugent, the pretty daughter of a Baptist grocer. His mother had fought the match for months. Now she calls the death providential, which tells you a good deal about her. Maggie says little, but she sees clearly that Laurie has been self-willed and moody, however warm and generous he can also be.
The book spends time on the house itself, because the house shapes everyone in it. It soothes guests, silences them and wraps them in peace. Maggie loves it. She has also begun, without admitting it, to think about Laurie more than she should.
When Laurie comes home from the funeral he lies on his couch in agony. He curses God, then weeps. All he wants is a sign that Amy still exists somewhere, a face or a whisper or a touch. That longing drives everything that follows.
He rides out, and on the way he stops at the priest's house to ask for a Mass for her soul. The priest is large, red faced and practical, and the little room reeks of tobacco. Laurie looks at it in dismay and wonders whether his religion can really produce a life like this.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Laurie Baxter
- Laurie Baxter is a young man whose grief for Amy draws him toward attempts to contact the dead.
- Amy
- Amy is the woman Laurie loved and has lost, whose absence drives his longing to reach beyond death.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 82,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 9 other languages
Questions about Los nigromantes
What is The Necromancers about?
It tells of Laurie Baxter, a young Catholic convert who loses his sweetheart and turns to spiritualist séances in London to reach her. His adopted sister Maggie and an old solicitor named Cathcart try to protect him.
Is The Necromancers a true story, and when was it written?
It is fiction by Robert Hugh Benson, set in the Edwardian years soon after 1901 and published in the early twentieth century. It uses real ideas from the spiritualist movement, but the characters and events are invented.
What does the word necromancer mean in this book?
A necromancer is someone who tries to call up the dead. In the novel it covers the mediums and sitters who attempt this, and also the Catholic teaching, quoted by Father Mahon, that such practice is forbidden.
Who are Mr. Vincent and Mr. Cathcart?
Mr. Vincent is a well-mannered London medium who sincerely believes in his gifts. Mr. Cathcart is an elderly solicitor who was once a spiritualist himself and now warns others against it.
Is The Necromancers easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the story moves through clear scenes with strong characters, comic touches and short chapters. The country-house chapters read like a comedy of manners, and the suspense builds steadily.